Three's not a crowd
by loboselina
Summary: Red Snowing (Ruby x David x Snow) fic set right after the 1st curse. Oneshots style story based on the family and how 20 year old Emma deals with suddenly having three parents.
1. Midnight Walks

**I'm a huge Red Snowing shipper (Ruby x Snow x David), but it's such a rare-pairing (trioing?) that there's barely any fics about them, so I figured I should probably try to rectify that, these are going to be Red Snowing family oneshots, so feel free to request anything!**

 **I dedicate this to Justanoutlaw, who I dragged into shipping this, and who has just started her own Red Snowing fic called One Day at a Time which is a deaged Emma fic, I suggest you check it out as it's awesome (along with any of her others really)!**

 **In my universe, Emma is only 20 years old but acts younger mostly due to her childhood. Henry was still adopted but he isn't Emma's son, though he was the one who got her from Boston claiming to have found her family, Emma was living in a crappy apartment when he had found her so took up Mary Margaret's offer of staying with her. Emma isn't working as sheriff or even working as Mary Margaret told her she'd rather have her get her High School diploma than pay rent.**

 **Let me know what you think through reviews, or message me or tag/tweet me on Tumblr (Loboselinafanfiction) or Twitter loboselinaff**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _After the Evil Queen Regina had been given a second chance instead of being executed by Queen Snow White she had been trying to make amends. Her long-lost sister, the witch Zelena, on the other hand fell even darker – she had been planning on using Regina's position as the queen for her own gain. So, she set about making a curse._

 _Regina's step-daughter was Snow White, who had found not one true love but two, it wasn't commonplace in the Enchanted Forest, however it happened enough that only certain royals looked down on her choice to marry Prince Charming and Red, who became Princess Red as soon as the three were married. Soon, Snow White fell pregnant, and the three were overjoyed. The whole kingdom celebrated, and Red and Charming set about making the nursey, under Snow's watchful eye. Red's grandmother, Widow Lucas or Granny as she was known to all, knitted a blanket for her soon to be great-granddaughter. Even Regina gave the unborn baby a gift, a simple teddy bear, but it meant the world to the all, especially Snow who insisted on Regina being a grandmother to the baby._

 _But soon tragedy struck. The found out about the curse Zelena was planning on enacting. The terrified trio of parents-to-be sought the advice of the Dark One who warned that they would be separated from their child until the child was twenty years old._

 _And so, they were._

* * *

Emma Swan had always wanted to hate David Nolan. Well, maybe not always, she hadn't been his biggest fan when she had had to trudge through the woods at night when he had decided to escape from the hospital during the curse. And she had gotten very close to absolutely hating him when he had been having an affair with Mary Margaret and she still saw him flirting with Ruby whenever he ordered at Granny's, and despite Ruby being Mary Margaret's best friend she always flirted back. But there was always some part of her of her which had liked the man, even if she tried to show that she hated him, he was always kind to her even after he and Mary Margaret broke up, she barely spared a word to him. But then the curse broke and she was given her explanation for why she couldn't quite bring herself to totally hate him, he was here father, and Mary Margaret, _Snow_ as she now liked to be called, was her mother….

And, apparently, her mother's best friend was also her mother…

She had gone from an orphan to having three parents all in one day.

It was a lot to take in.

Emma had protested when she had been referred to as 'the kid' by Ruby, as they had bid farewells to Granny that night at the diner where everyone had been celebrating, but had been dragged home along with David and Ruby by Snow. David had barely spoke to her, but she saw him watching her through the night as she learnt about who everyone in the town really was, she had simply stuck to Snow's side, Snow may have changed from being Mary Margaret the least of all being the name, but she was who Emma felt safest around.

* * *

"Why do I have to do this?" Emma grumbled, Snow was in the closet pulling out blankets and throws and piling them into Emma's waiting arms.

"Because your parents are building a nest in the living room, that way we can all stay together tonight, you included. We need blankets and cushions and pillow to make it"

"We're not birds we don't need a nest." She leant against the doorway of the closet and glanced through the bedroom curtains to the living room. Ruby and David had pushed the couch and chairs back to the edges of the room, on the floor led Snow's mattress along with Emma's and the spare bed's mattress. They were placing all of the couch and arm chair cushions around the edges of the mattresses to make a nest like shape.

Snow rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew this was going to be hard, Emma having to get used to having other people there, let alone the fact she now had parents, even if Mary Margaret mothered her already, Snow would only increase that. "Because, we've been apart for twenty years, and you've gotten yourself into danger already today, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"You were the one lying in the hospital in a coma." She was unable to hide the hurt and fear in her voice.

Snow stood up out of the closet for a moment, she placed the pile Emma was holding onto the bedside table and hugged her tight. "I'm not leaving you again Emma, Regina has Zelena in one of the cells under the hospital, she's not getting out. She can't hurt me and I'm never leaving you ever again… But, I could have lost you when you decided to fight that dragon." She told her. She hadn't told David or Ruby about it yet, she thought it'd be best coming from Emma, when Emma was comfortable enough to see her mother and father go into full protective mode over her. "You're never doing that again."

Emma shrugged her shoulders, Gold had tricked her into getting the magic egg and had then left her stranded to get out on her own, it was crazy and terrifying and she hadn't gotten her head around it yet. "I needed to save you." She mumbled.

Snow placed her hand on Emma's cheek and smiled gently at her. "And you did. You saved me, your mother and father, and the entire town. That's all we needed you to do, you've done your job as the saviour so now I get to wrap you in bubble wrap, no more dragons."

Emma rolled her eyes but saw Snow was deadly serious so she nodded. The town had already changed a little with the magic now there, she didn't want to find out if there was some tower Snow would lock her in, to keep her safe.

Snow went back to collecting the blankets and Emma picked the pile back up.

"So, Prince Charming's a man whore, Walt Disney never saw that coming."

"Emma." Snow warned.

"What! He is! He's a bigamist!" Emma defended herself. She didn't think she was being that loud but Ruby looked over at her not looking happy.

Snow stood up out of the closet again, though this time she had a stern look on her face, one which made Emma suddenly look down. It was a look Mary Margaret never had. " _He is not._ " The sternness of her words made Emma look up, she looked like a kicked puppy, but Snow continued – she couldn't let Emma think terrible things about David, not if she wanted the two to ever have a relationship. "He is married to myself and your mama, Ruby. Ruby is married to him and me. And I am married to both your mama and your daddy. We all love each other equally, and we all love you, but you need to treat us all with respect even if you're not ready to call us by our proper titles yet – not because we're your parents, because I know that you need time to get used to that, but because we're people, so you need to treat us all with respect regardless."

Emma slouched like a chastised child.

"Do you understand?" Snow asked gently, she knew it was all a lot for her to take in and she wasn't sure how to deal with it all, and she'd feel embarrassed and guilty about ever thinking those things as soon as she got to know David and Ruby for who they truly were.

Emma bit her lip not looking up at Snow's eyes. "Yeah."

"Good girl." Snow gave her a soft smile to show there was no bad blood. "Why don't you go take those through and help them set them up, I'll grab the others, then I'll come join you.

* * *

Emma had been withdrawn from the all during the evening, it was late enough that she could claim that she was tired and wanted to sleep, her parents agreed, though suspicious, and they all settled down.

As soon as Emma believed that they were asleep she left the loft, taking only her jacket and slippers with her, intent on leaving the town. This was all too much for her.

But Snow, David, and Ruby were not as asleep as Emma had thought. They all sat up immediately, panic and fear at their missing child hung thick in the air. They all wanted to go and search for Emma, to prove to her that they loved her and that they cared. But Snow and Ruby insisted that David went alone. The two mothers already had a relationship with her, and would be able to track Emma down and help if David needed it, but he also needed to prove to his daughter that he loved her, that he cared, and that he wasn't like the cursed version of himself.

So, David left the loft, spotting Emma's abandoned baby blanket on the mattress where she had slept. He was touched that she still slept with it, and he realised that she wasn't really going to leave, though he wasn't sure that Emma had realised that yet.

* * *

David quickly caught up with Emma. But instead of talking to her, or stopping her, or even throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her back home, he just walked alongside her, in silence waiting for her to speak first. They were at the edge of town, near the woods and the town line, by the time Emma broke.

Anger had built up in Emma, first from David being at her side, but as time went on it had changed to anger at him not trying to stop her. And hurt… he clearly didn't care about her enough to stop her, he was just escorting her out of the town…

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" She shouted. "Go have some weird charming- Disney- wolf hybrid babies and leave me alone!"

David's hands went to his hips. "Why would I go do that, when my only 'charming- Disney- wolf hybrid' baby is out here, all alone?"

"I broke your stupid curse! Now I'm out of here, you don't need me anymore, I'm not sticking around somewhere I'm not wanted."

Emma said the words with heat but David's heart broke as he heard the pain and fear behind them. He couldn't take it anymore, he pulled Emma into his arms and held onto her tight, even as she yelled and tried to hit him and eventually broke down into tears. He rocked her as she cried, slumped against him, it was an automatic reaction to rock her but it seemed to work. When she stopped crying he pulled her back, his hands firmly on her arms, so she could look him in the eyes and know he wasn't lying. "The only reason we care about the curse being broken is so that we can be with each other and you again. Yes, we're happy for other in the town too, but our family is our main concern. We need you because we love you, you're our child, we don't just want you here, we need you – not because you're some saviour or whatever, but because you're Emma, you're our daughter who we wanted before we knew of the curse, and who we watched grow in your mommy's stomach. We couldn't wait to meet you, the few minutes we had you for we were the happiest we've ever been, we've been feeling the same since you broke the curse, because we have you again. We love you."

Emma could see he wasn't lying, not at all, she could also see the love he had for her on his face, and she'd be lying if she claimed that didn't scare her just a little. "You signed up for a baby, I'm an adult," she watched doubt flicker across his face and she mistook his doubt that she was an adult (it felt like only yesterday he had her in his arms after all) for doubt that he could parent her, "I understand." She finished quietly.

"You're _our_ baby, no matter how big you are, we signed up for you and _we want you_." David sighed and pulled her back into a hug, he knew this would be hard for Emma, it was even harder for her with her harsh past, he didn't know the details but he knew it was the reason she tried to push everyone away, and he figured there was a reason she didn't talk about it.  
"You have me, and mommy, and mama, and we all love you more than you'll ever know." He told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "We're not going anywhere. You can shout, scream, cry, tell us you hate us, try to push us away, try to build your walls higher, stick to us like glue, never let us leave your sight- but that's not going to change a thing, we're your parents, we love you, and we're going to look after you not matter your age." He was rocking her again, just enough to soothe her, it worked, she practically melted against him.  
He knew how guarded she acted around everyone in the town during the curse but Mary Margaret had told him she was the opposite around her, as soon as the walls had come down, she was much more trusting, almost childlike but she seemed to be more comfortable than she ever was around other people, he could only hope that she'd be comfortable enough to act like herself around him and Ruby too, one day.  
"Now, how about we walk back home?"

"Urgh." Emma made the noise of complaint against his chest and she heard and felt him laugh, the vibrations going through his chest to her face. "Too far. We stay here." She mumbled already starting to fall asleep against him.

David laughed again and shook his head. He rubbed her back and ran his fingers through her curly hair. "So, you can't walk home, but you were going to walk all the way out of town and to some new place in just your pyjamas and slippers, without even taking your blankie?"

Emma frowned against him, okay maybe she hadn't _really_ been going out of town when he put it like that, it didn't mean he had to call her out about it. Her heart quickened when she remembered she had left her baby blanket behind, she was glad he had stopped her before she had left, she was only now realising that she didn't have a plan or take her car or clothes or anything.

He scooped her up into his arms and saw her look confused, but she didn't try to pull away, so he supposed that was something. "You're obviously way too tired to walk home, and I'm way too handsome to be killed, which I will be if I don't get you back to your mothers soon." He began to walk.

"Scaredy cat" Emma mumbled in good humour, but she led her head against his chest, he smelt like a forest mixed with his aftershave, it was a good and comforting mix, and the forest part reminded her of her blanket.

"Well, your mama's kind of like a big dog," he smirked knowing that if Ruby was there she would have smacked him upside the head, "I'm kinda right to be a scaredy cat."

"I'll tell her you said that." She closed her eyes.

"Nuh uh," David shook his head as he smiled down as his daughter who didn't open her eyes, "you're meant to be on my side, your mommy and mama always gang up on me." He realised only after he had said it that he had been referring to Snow as Emma's mommy, which she was of course, but he was a little surprised she didn't object to the wording. "We made a deal when you were in Snow's tummy, I plied her with all the hot chocolate you wanted, and in return you stopped kicking her every time me or Ruby stopped talking to you, and you joined my team."

Emma was too tired to drag her eyes open, and too tired to stop the smile spreading over her face at the story, she snuggled closer but would stick firm to the claim that it was because she was cold not because she quite liked being close to David, her dad. "Do I still get the hot chocolate?" she bartered.

"Hmm…" David pretended to think. "I suppose that would be a good deal… and before you tell me, I know it's with cinnamon, that's your mom's fault she got us _all_ hooked."

"Doesn't mean I like it." She argued for the sake of arguing, her voice was slurred with sleep as she fought to stay awake.

"You do." He smiled down at her, knowing she'd be asleep by the time they got home, despite her stubbornness, she had inherited that trait from all three of her parents. "Your mommy told me during the curse… she was always telling me stories about what you were up to and how you were." Even curse he and Ruby had always asked after Emma as soon as they saw their wife, though neither understood why, they just knew she was important to them.

Emma was now almost asleep which gave her the bravery she needed to ask the next question. "Did mommy tell mama too?" She copied her parents' terminology for each other naturally, not really think about how immature it might sound, she didn't care at the moment either.

David beamed as he heard her refer to Ruby as her title, he wished Ruby was there to hear it, but he knew that if she had been Emma would have been snatched straight out of his arms and into her so he couldn't help but be a little selfish and grateful that she wasn't. Snow's title also made him smile but he knew that that was a slightly easier change for Emma to make. "Yeah, your mama's always been making sure you're okay, when she didn't see Snow she'd ask me if I knew."  
They were close to the town again now.  
"When you were born, your mama was rushing to try and get to you, she wanted to hold her baby, but the witch had her forces in the way and they knew that she'd be hard to take down. Your mama fought so hard to try and be there. She didn't get to see you, the curse came too quick, but because she was so good at fighting to protect you it meant I was able to get you to the wardrobe easier so the witch didn't kill you."

Emma hummed a noise in reply but she was now asleep.

* * *

When David got back to the loft both Snow and Ruby were worried beyond belief, but when they saw Emma asleep in David's arms they calmed a little, and didn't bombard him with questions so that Emma wouldn't wake up. He carried her over to the nest in the living room and placed her down in the middle of the mattresses. Snow immediately led down and cuddled her baby against her. She grabbed Emma's baby blanket, and wrapped it around her, before covering her with other blankets.

"Is she okay?" Ruby asked with worry and insistence, her eyes scanned Emma as she stood beside David, looking down at her and Snow. Emma moved in her sleep to curl up closer to Snow which was a promising sign.

David wrapped his arms around Ruby, he kissed her temple as her head was turned onto their daughter, she may have insisted that he needed to hand bringing Emma back on his own that time, but she wouldn't be letting her out of her sight again, not for a very long time. "She'll be okay, she just needs some reassurance from us all…" He brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "She fell asleep as I was telling her the story of how her mama valiantly fought the dark knights to try and be at her birth, and because she fought so many of them it meant I could get her to the wardrobe so she wouldn't be killed by the evil witch, her mama helped save her."

He could tell Ruby was worried that Emma wouldn't accept her as she wasn't related to her by blood, she always had been a little worried, that had only increased when they realised they wouldn't get to raise her- but Emma was just as much like Ruby as she was David and Snow.

He watched her lay down on the mattresses on Emma's other side. He led beside her with his arm draped across all three of his girls. He pressed a kiss to her neck, a sensitive spot below her ear, his lips tickled her skin as they barely touched it. "She referred to you as her mama." He could just about see Snow smiling over at what she had heard him say and he knew that Ruby was beaming. "And Snow as mommy," he continued, "she hasn't called me daddy yet, but it's okay she's still on my team."

His wives let out a quiet breath of laughter each, they knew Emma would have to have time to get used to this new family dynamic, but they would support her through it no matter what. It was all going to be okay.


	2. Her Kid

**The morning after the night before, set immediately after Chapter 1 Midnight Walks, some mama Ruby bonding.**

 **Let me know what you think and any prompts!**

* * *

Ruby was the first one awake in the loft. For a second she was caught between her two minds, unable to figure out if she was Red, a princess and knight in the Enchanted Forest, married to Queen Snow and Prince Charming, or if she was Ruby, a waitress working in her Granny's diner, plagued by hangovers and a series of hook-ups. She heard the sound of two heartbeats she knew even better than her own, she was starting to think she was back in their castle, then she heard the third heartbeat, she once knew it better than even the ones of her spouses, but it had changed and developed without any of them there. She realised she was both. Ruby, the waitress, werewolf, wife, and mama.

Now that magic was back in the town she had regained her werewolf senses which the world without magic had been suppressing. She felt David's arm draped around her waist, spooning her from behind, she turned her head just a little so she could gently peck his lips. He responded but didn't wake, and she was glad of that when she was met with the memory of finally getting to the nursery seconds before the curse broke and seeing her wife cradling their husband's lifeless body in her arms, one of the few good things about the curse happening at that moment was that it saved David's life, nevertheless still he needed the rest.

She turned her head back to where it had been when she had been sleep and looked at Snow above Emma's head, her wife was fast asleep with their daughter cuddled as close as possible. She could see a small smile on Snow's face as she slept.  
Ruby had seen her when she was in the coma, when Emma had run off to go do something with Gold (though Ruby had no idea what….), she looked almost dead Ruby hadn't even cared about Emma disappearing – although she didn't know it, one of her true loves was dying, and the other was headed towards the town line and danger.  
It was much better to see her peacefully asleep with her baby in her arms, safe and happy, nevertheless she stroked her fingers gently across her cheek, a small smile appeared on Ruby's face as the one on Snow's face widened in her sleep, knowing Ruby's fingers only too well.

Ruby gently shrugged David's arm from her so she could sit up, he made a grumpy noise in his sleep, which she would have to remember to tease him about later. At that moment, she instead was busy looking at Emma. She was only just an adult, Ruby knew from her cursed self's memories that she didn't act like one, and she certainly didn't act look like one.

Ruby remembered the fear she had felt when knew had reached her that Snow had gone into labour, Ruby had been busy fighting off as many of Zelena's forces as tried her hardest to get back to her family, but she had only got there a few seconds before the curse fell, her wife was cradling their husband's lifeless body and their baby daughter was nowhere to be seen – she could only hope that Emma got into the wardrobe in time, but even then she was terrified about where Emma would be sent and how long a premature baby could survive on her own. And she had somehow, though she had no idea how, she wasn't sure how any of them would have coped if she hadn't, and she was sure they would have known that their baby was dead, curse be damned.

Ruby carefully brushed one of Emma's golden curls out of her face, a mixture of Snow and David's hair, she froze as Emma rolled over but relaxed again when she stayed firmly asleep now led on her back, out of Snow's arms. Ruby carefully placed a kiss onto Emma's forehead, gently enough that it barely counted, she may know Emma better than David (and had the advantage of Emma not hating her) but she knew that they weren't on the same level as Emma and Snow were. Ruby gently tucked Emma's blanket around the blonde, Emma clearly knew it even in her sleep, as she pulled it closer to her, nuzzling it in her sleep. She stretched in her place on the mattress nest before climbing off it.

She headed first to the kitchen, she opened the fridge to see what Snow had in there for them to eat, she rolled her eyes when she realised that Mary Margaret had been just as into healthy eating as Snow was, and she clearly hadn't gone to the store that week as there was nothing in there to make anything. She quickly checked the cupboards, she smirked when she saw that there was a box of Lucky Charms which were no doubt Emma's – but she didn't think that cereal, no matter how colourful, was a fitting first breakfast for her family.

She headed into the bathroom to quickly wash, she had stolen some of Mary Margaret's pyjamas the night before as both she and David had forgot to head back to their places and grab clothes, Mary Margret's style wasn't hers any more than it was Snow's, but at least it properly fit Snow, Ruby was a couple of inches taller so everything was just a little too short. She'd just have to borrow some of Snow's clothes to go to Granny's in, she'd be fine with looking a little flowery in order to grab everyone breakfast, there was no doubt in her mind that they would all be going on a shopping trip later on, Emma would be spoilt with clothes too, she already knew from Mary Margaret's insinuations, and from her own observations, that Emma had about three outfits.

* * *

When she exited the bathroom, she was met with the sight of Emma sat up between the two sleeping figures of David and Snow, David had moved closer to Emma once Ruby had moved, in her hands was her blanket her hand was tracing her name. Ruby smiled, she saw the bags under Emma eyes, she really could do with getting some more sleep. "Hey Em." She said gently but Emma still jumped. "Sorry, pup, I didn't mean to scare you."

Emma bit her lip and shrugged awkwardly. "S'okay." She mumbled and tried to pretend that she hadn't been looking at the blanket quite so intently. She realised that she had called her some form of a nickname, well two, but 'pup' was one she had never heard before, and was surprised that she didn't actually hate it. She looked over at Ruby and tried not to laugh at the sight of Mary Margaret's pyjamas on her, she realised that Ruby's eyes were on her blanket. Emma fidgeted a little nervously.

Ruby realised she was staring, and that Emma was biting her lip and looking nervous, she sighed internally that her daughter had ever had to feel self-conscious about having her baby blanket with her and it being important. She gave Emma a gentle smile. "I'm glad you still have that." She watched as Emma's eyes met hers, they were green exactly like hers and Snow's, she had a baby face and her eyes looked adorably big on it. "It looks like it's holding up well, even after twenty years."

Emma moved out her place between two of her parents, with her blanket still in held in her hands, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down watching Ruby grab one of Snow's notebooks and pens before pouring two glasses of juice out, Emma watched Ruby place one of the juices in front of her before she spoke. "I had to, it's the only thing I have from my parents… erm… _had_ from you I guess…" She trailed off when she remembered that she was talking to one of the people who gave it to her.

Ruby smiled lovingly, she dropped into the place next to Emma at the table, and watched the blonde sip the juice. "Granny will be happy about that." She saw Emma's confused look and explained. "She was the who one knitted it. I think she started about eight different ones." She chuckled at her grandmother's knitting mania.

"Did she used to knit everyone things?" Emma asked trying to figure out why there were eight.

Ruby tilted her head a little to the side in confusion, an action which David teased her about being dog like, even though both of her spouses did the same thing. "No, she just wanted it to be perfect, you're her only great-grandchild."

It took a minute for that to sink in. She always knew that it wasn't just one from a store, it had her name on it after all, but she had figured they had paid some random person to do it, when she was a teenager she thought that it was her biological mother's old baby blanket, or someone she knew. "Oh… I… I'm glad she did." She admitted stroking the ribbon between her finger and thumb as she was used to doing.

"Me too." Ruby smiled and started to write down things she knew David and Snow would like to eat for breakfast, she also knew what Emma would eat but she didn't want to just assume or make her think that she was trying to control her, she wanted her to like her.  
"You know before you were born, me and your daddy thought that your mommy would be going through with you, so we kissed the blanket because we were told that by giving it true loves kiss it would help protect you a little." The three of them had had a conversation with each other about continuing to refer to each other by those names as they had to her when Emma was in Snow's stomach, which Emma had used the day before, unless she asked they didn't. "I think you mommy kissed it before your daddy took you."

Emma swallowed deeply, she was beginning to hate that wardrobe, and judging from the fact that Ruby trailed off she did too. She decided to play it safe and change the conversation. "Whatcha doing?" She pointed at the list Ruby had almost completed.

"I checked the kitchen and could only find some kale and some cereal which has so many colourings in it's practically luminescent." She watched Emma look proud at that, she figured it probably took a lot of work for Emma to convince Mary Margaret to get it, she couldn't help but smile at her daughter's grin. "So, I decided to go on a Granny's run I was just writing down what to grab everyone, I was thinking double chocolate waffles for you?"

"Mm, yes!" Emma hummed her approval. "They're the best."

Ruby grinned as though she had just passed a little test. She noticed Emma staring at her blanket, something was on her mind and was probably whatever had her up so early, it didn't surprise her considering the day she had had with watching Snow almost die the day before. "You wanna come with me?" She offered.

Emma looked up at Ruby, she bit her lip, then glanced over at Snow who was now asleep in David's arms.

"We can leave them a note so they know where we've gone, it's still early, they'll most likely still be asleep by the time we get home."

Emma looked back at Ruby. She had spent time with Ruby before the curse had broken, they had gotten along well, Ruby had clearly changed a lot in the short amount of time but she still seemed like a nice person. She felt as though she was agreeing to something bigger than just going to the diner and grabbing food. But she nodded. "Okay, sure, why not."

"Cool." She breathed out. "Go get changed then we'll go." She quickly wrote down Emma's order before she headed into the downstairs bedroom to get dressed herself.

* * *

As soon as Emma was dressed the Ruby left the note telling David and Snow where they had gone, then lead her daughter out of the loft. The two were quite the sight, Ruby had taken out her bright red clip in highlights and had borrowed more of Snow's cursed clothes, Emma was a whole lot shorter than Ruby and was in the clothes she had owned for about five years they were worn thin and she only had a few outfit choices as the amount didn't even fill a suitcase.

Emma started to head over to Mary Margaret's, or Snow's as she had to keep reminding herself, car. She felt Ruby's hand suddenly on her back, steering her away from Snow's station wagon and towards a bright red Camaro.

"We're going in my car, Em." She told her kindly, she was relieved that Emma didn't head towards the yellow bug, she had seen her drive the stolen car, and was fairly certain that she had never passed a test. Emma was fairly quiet, Ruby realised, but she wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't a morning person or because she had Ruby's company, possibly both.

* * *

Ruby unlocked the front door of the diner, it was early enough that neither Granny nor the cook, Tony, was there. She could tell that Emma felt a little out place as they walked into the empty diner, the only noise was the buzz of the lights and heating system as they walked in and Ruby flicked them on.

"Hey, why don't you stay here," she pointed over at the booth beside the kitchen door, there were some pots of crayons and colouring pages upon it, waiting to be set up in their usual places, "I'll only be a few minutes putting them on, then we can get the drink sorted.

Emma moved to the seat at the booth, the seat closest to the kitchen door, she felt completely out of her depth, out in the early morning before anyone was awake and before the diner was open. "Okay." She said quietly, she was fidgeting restlessly as she normally did, it was worse when she was anxious.

"I'll be back in a sec." Ruby promised, she felt Emma's nerves coming off her in waves, even if they weren't she would have seen Emma's dancing hands. She watched as they picked up one of the crayons from the pot and she started turning it over in her hands. "You can colour if you like." She suggested, she would have let Emma into the kitchen with her, but she felt protective of her pup, she didn't want her to get burnt, she had already heard about Emma's attempts to cook which had ended up with a visit from the fire service.

Emma tried to protest that she wasn't a kid and didn't want to colour, but the words only came into her mind as the kitchen door closed behind Ruby, she started to colour in the picture of the dinosaur on the paper absentmindedly.

She was lost in her mind thinking about everything that had happened. She thought about how David had talked to her the night before and had carried her home, he was so different from the David Nolan she had known who had been weak and had upset Mary Margaret. She thought about how Mary Margaret had changed, she was no longer weak willed there was a quiet ferocity there, and she was somehow even more maternal than before which was impressive. Then there was Ruby, she had been slightly immature before and had a pretty bad reputation for flirting with a whole load of people (which wasn't something Emma really wanted to think about, but now she seemed to stand taller, there was fire behind her eyes and seemed to be protective over Emma, though Emma didn't totally understand having people care about her so that would take some getting used to. She was so busy thinking about everything that she didn't hear the bell over the door ring to signify someone coming in.

"We're not open just yet." The cook told Emma, making her jump as she didn't realise that anyone else was there, he was clearly oblivious to who she was and why she was there.

"Oh I'm just…" She dropped the crayon she had been colouring with down onto the table. "I just waiting… I'm erm with…" She wasn't sure whether she should call Ruby 'mama' yet or not, she wasn't sure if she was ready for the commitment to having a family yet or not, and more importantly she wasn't sure if Ruby wanted her to call her that. She knew that Ruby shared true love with David and Snow, but she didn't want to assume anything, she barely even wanted to admit to herself that she hoped that they did all love her – even after saving Snow with true love's kiss.

"Are you looking for your parents?" He noticed her slightly scruffy and worn clothes, she clearly wasn't dirty or unclean just a little bedraggled, he figured she might not have somewhere to stay, she might have been an orphan before or during the curse. "If you're looking for someone, or somewhere to stay, I can help you I just need to talk to someone… You look like you could do with a meal in you."

Ruby heard the voices from the kitchen where she was grabbing all of the ingredients for the different breakfasts, she was a pretty good cook, Snow was better of course, and David had perfected breakfast ad grilled cheeses. She was going to let Emma talk to Tony alone, he was a nice man during the curse, and she wasn't worried about him suddenly turning horrible after regaining his memories – he had been one of the cooks at the castle, he had always made sure to sneak David and Ruby slightly more unhealthy food when Snow was on a health kick (her spouses being forced to join with her), and he always created recipes following Snow's cravings when she was pregnant with Emma. But then Ruby heard Emma's heart practically beating out of her chest, and her spluttering as she tried to answer but failed. She left the ingredients and appeared out of the kitchen door and materialised next to Emma.

"Don't worry Tony, that's my kid." Ruby placed her hand onto Emma's back rubbing circles onto it as she saved Emma from trying to explain anything.  
She could hear Emma's heart starting to beat faster, while she was in the kitchen and Emma was on her own, she was clearly worried about being interrogated by Granny's cook. She knew that Emma didn't actually have anything to worry about, Tony was really nice and would probably have just tried to help her had she been some random kid searching for her parents, but Emma's panic needed to be soothed.  
"I'm about to get a meal in her now." She felt Emma leaning against her and she could hear her heart beating starting to calm, she felt pride at that and continued to rub her back.  
She felt a little shred of hope that she was starting to learn how to calm Emma, David had remonstrated that he could calm her the night before, and Snow was closer to her than any of them.

Emma was mulling over Ruby's words, she claimed her so easily, there was no doubt in Ruby's mind that she was hers. It was so certain in Ruby's mind, and her words, that Emma couldn't help but be convinced. It was the same way that Snow had claimed her, and David had reiterated, they had both made sure she knew that Ruby was hers too. Growing up she had hoped to have a mommy and daddy who didn't shout or hurt her, as she got older she figured it was probably more likely that she'd have a mom who was a bit of a deadbeat considering she left her on the side of the road, now she had gone from being an orphan to having three parents. It was weird, but she saw the love the clearly all had for each other, and even she could see the love they had for her. Three parents defiantly beat having no parents, she wasn't sure what having two parents was like, but she was starting to think that having three was pretty good… possibly even better than having only two, though only time would tell.

Tony smiled when he saw Ruby and realised who the girl was. He threw his arm out to give Ruby a brief hug. He smiled down at Emma as though he knew her. "You must be Emma." He grinned when she nodded her head but didn't speak, he figured she was probably shy so he looked again at Ruby. "Little tiny thing, ain't she?"

Ruby grinned back but was surprised when Emma didn't protest his words. "Yeah, she is, that's why we're here – my wife has nothing in for breakfast, and we're all back together, we deserve something special."

"I figured I wouldn't see you today, Granny said you wouldn't be in today, not when you found your spouses and baby."

Emma made a grumbling noise at that, but only a small one, not out of disagreement but she did have reputation to keep. She was ignored.

"I must admit, it is ever so nice to have the real you back, your highness." He bowed his head respectfully.

Ruby rolled her eyes with a kind smile on her face. They had had this conversation many a time, Tony stood waiting for her to say her lines, as though they were in a play. "I told you, Tony, it's just Ruby. But it's good to see you too."

"Make me a coffee and I'll get all your food done." Tony offered her looking over at Emma too, who seemed to be much more relaxed with Ruby's hand rubbing circled on her back, he couldn't help but smile at that. "Your mom might be a good cook but I'm much better."

"She's not my mom." Emma said automatically, she didn't even think about what she was saying, her words came out of her mouth without her mind catching up she was taking after her parents and letting her feelings lead.

In the half second of silence Ruby felt as though she was experiencing all of her worst nightmares. She had been assured by Snow and David that she would be the baby's parent just as much as they were, biology didn't matter in families, even when they found out that she and David wouldn't be able to raise her they knew that Emma would be raised knowing she had three parents it wouldn't be idea but they could make it work. But then Emma went through without any of them. Ruby understood, she would never blame Emma for not accepting them fully as her parents straight away even if she had the night before in her sleepy state, it was something Emma had to get used to slowly… But Ruby wasn't her biological mother, and here was Emma pointing that out to someone outside of their family, it made it official and damning. Her heart broke.

"She's my mama." Emma continued after the half second it took for her to take a breath. It took her a second to realise what she had said, it had been an automatic response, it was what she had been told and was changing her name to in her head, along with David and Snow's names- though calling them 'mommy and daddy' seemed even younger so she was a little more hesitant to say it out loud in the light of day. She bit her lip and looked up hesitantly at Ruby, who had tears in her eyes, she bit her lip a little harder as she worried about Ruby's reaction.

Ruby's face broke into a massive smile, so wide it almost hurt, she blinked back the happy tears from her eyes and squeezed Emma tight to her side. "Yup." She agreed with pride, she saw Tony smile at them both, he and Ruby were close from their cursed years and knew each other before that. "I'm her mama." She dropped a kiss to the top of her head, she felt her lean into the touch, she knew it was involuntary but she was glad nonetheless.

"Of course." He nodded his head with a smile. "Do you know what you'll be having?"

"I wrote a list, it's still in the kitchen, y'know the place where Granny hates me to put them?" She said with a wicked smile.

Tony chuckled a little. "Of course where else." He grinned. "I'm guessing you're taking it to go?"

"Yup," Ruby nodded at Tony, "I think we should probably feed the two idiots too. Plus from what I've seen my wife's been trying to force my kid to eat healthily." She made her voice sound as though Snow had been torturing Emma and she was rewarded with a small laugh from her daughter, she realised she was going to be almost as much of a soft touch as David was clearly going to be, but it was worth it.

"I'll leave you to ruin that healthy eating then." Tony laughed and he headed into the kitchen leaving the girls alone as he cooked.

Ruby brushed some of Emma's wild hair away from her face so she could see her better. "What d'ya think, pup, time to ruin your mommy's healthy eating with an awesome chocolate milkshake?"

Emma grinned up at her. She noted that Ruby was using the same terms for Snow as David had the night before, along with that nickname again, apparently they came as naturally to Ruby as they had to Emma, but Ruby wasn't unsure in the slightest as to her role in the family, whereas Emma was. But she nodded her head and stood up when Ruby gave her the room to do so. "I'd never turn down a chocolate milkshake." She shrugged playing it cool.

Ruby threw her arm around her and led her over to the counter where they made the milkshakes. She grabbed the ice cream from the freezer as Emma stood watching her by the blender, she then grabbed a couple of chocolate bars, some chocolate milk, and a packet of tiny fudge cubes.  
"Okay, you add a cup of fudge cubes in there, and then break up all that chocolate and put it in." Ruby instructed.

"Mommy would never let me have all this." Emma muttered gleefully, it was meant to be to herself but when she glanced at Ruby she was grinning her wolfish grin, Emma was surprised to find that she was happy to have made Ruby smile. She was getting used to thinking of Snow as a mom, it was fairly easy to do so, but with Ruby it was like she was a completely different person… She knew she'd have to get used to her, but she found herself drawn to her, she felt safe with her – and Emma didn't feel safe with many people... She felt how she did with Snow, and how she had felt with David the night before, it was a feeling Emma was so unfamiliar with it was hard to name but she thought it might be 'home'.

Ruby's grin was wolfish as she looked down at Emma. "Yeah, don't tell her about it, or she'll kill me" She saw Emma look worried about Ruby possibly being in trouble. "She won't mind too much, pup, she was always having to eat chocolate when you were in her tummy- pretty much everything would be covered in chocolate or with chocolate or you'd kick up a fuss." She watched Emma breaking up the chocolate while looking interested in Ruby's words. "You used to kick Snow all the time unless you could hear one of our voices, pup, your daddy had to sing to you every night or you'd try to keep your mommy up all night."

"Why'd you… Why'd you call me that?" Emma asked tilting her head to the side.

Ruby added scoops of triple chocolate ice cream into the blender. She frowned as she tried to figure out what Emma meant. "Oh, pup?" She watched her daughter nod. She shrugged. "I don't know, I've called it you since we found out Snow was pregnant, it just felt right… I guess maybe it's a wolf thing."

"Wolf? Wait… Henry's book was right, you're a – a…?" She trailed off, she didn't want to call her a something which was prejudiced or something, by accident.

"Werewolf?" Ruby suggested gently. "Yeah, I am… is… is that okay?"

Emma nodded her head straight away, desperate to show her that she hadn't meant to make her doubt that she was okay with it. "It's cool." She said not bothering to dampen her enthusiasm. "Can you turn into a wolf whenever you want or just on the full moon? Can you control yourself as a wolf and remember it, or is it like when you get blackout drunk and wake up barely able to remember anything and have a hangover?"

Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at Emma's rambling questions. "You're way too young to know about blackout drinking, pup." She watched Emma shrug, as she quickly blasted the blender to make Emma's milkshake, she was trying to think of the how to answer Emma's questions. She still remembered killing her boyfriend before she had learnt how to control her wolf side. "I can turn into a wolf whenever I want, but it's more like I have to when there's a full moon. I'm completely in control, but I wasn't always, before I knew that I was a werewolf I hurt a lot of people… it took me a long time to come to turns with it… there was a time that I almost stayed as a wolf most of the time." She poured the milkshake into a takeaway cup, stuck in a silly straw in it, then passed it to her.

"Why didn't you?" Emma asked, she took a sip of her milkshake and hummed her approval and love of it she started to drink it down quickly.

"Your mommy." Ruby said with a gentle smile. She quickly turned the coffee on to make some for Tony, herself, and her spouses. And the hot milk to make Emma a hot chocolate and cinnamon.

"Before Regina turned good she was hunting your mommy down, and I had only just found my mom who had a wolf pack, one of the Evil Queen's forced killed one of my mom's wolves from her pack. My mom blamed Snow and tried to kill her… I couldn't let that happen."

"Because you love her?"

Ruby smiled, she brushed a strand of her hair from her face as she stared at her with those big green eyes, she wiped a bit of chocolate away from Emma's mouth and smirked as Emma pulled a face. She couldn't contain the small chuckle when Emma poked her tongue out at her in return. "Yeah, pup, I love her. Then I met your daddy, and I realised that I love both of them, luckily they both felt the same."

Emma smiled, she felt a small jolt of surprise every time that Ruby, or indeed Snow or David, called them her parents… it was so bizarre to have three of those after having twenty years of not even having one. She tried to hide a smile when Ruby pressed a kiss to the top of her head, it was lucky that Mary Margaret had been so touchy-feely as clearly Ruby was, and judging from her other mother the day before so was Snow, David had carried her back to the loft the day before but other than that she still wasn't too sure about how he'd act around her just yet.

"Emma?" She waited until she looked up at her. "You know I love you, right?"

"Oh?" She sounded surprised. "I… erm…I'm…"

"It's okay, pup, you don't have to say anything." Ruby assured her meaning every word. "I just need you to know it. I love you just as much as Snow and David do, which is a whole lot, we love you more than any of us have loved anything before. I may not have carried you, or be your dad like David is, but I've loved you since the moment I knew your mom was going to have you. You didn't grow in my stomach, but you grew in my heart, no matter how cheesy that sounds."

Luckily Emma didn't have to say anything as Tony came out holding the family's food in a couple of paper bags.

Ruby noticed Emma looking a little confused when Ruby didn't make a move towards the till. She smirked. "The plus side of Granny's being a family business, we get free food, and all the hot chocolate and cinnamon you could want." She shook her head with a smile when Emma beamed at that. "Here you take this," she passed her one of the lighter bags to carry out to the car and grabbed the drinks tray which she had put the coffees and a hot chocolate for Emma on.

Emma waited for Ruby to say goodbye to Tony, she watched her mother carefully, carefully digesting Ruby's words. She was quiet as Ruby led her out to the car, she tried to take the drinks from Ruby, but Ruby just held open the passenger for Emma.

"Sit down first, Em, I don't want you burning yourself." Ruby insisted, she didn't want her first full day of being a mother being marred by getting her kid scalded, as soon as Emma was in she held out of hands for them but Ruby just met her with a firm look. "Seat belt on."

Emma rolled her eyes but was fighting to keep the smile off of her face, she wasn't really one to follow rules or laws but Mary Margaret had seemingly constantly reminded her to wear her seatbelt, she knew that it was because she cared about her and didn't want anything to happen to her. She realised that it was the same with Ruby, she didn't want her hurt and Emma felt the same back, especially now that they knew their family connection.

Ruby passed Emma the drinks, she waited for Emma to settle them down securely on her lap, she had heard new parents talking about the drive back from the hospital and feeling the need to drive as slowly as possible just to be on the safe side, she understood that now.

"Mama?" Emma said quietly and somewhat hesitantly, she watched as Ruby beamed and stopped from closing the door. "Thanks." To anyone else it might have sounded that she was talking about the food and drinks, or the milkshake she had had earlier, but they both knew that Emma was talking about being her mother.

"It's my pleasure." She told her before gently closing the door making sure Emma wasn't getting caught at all. She got into the other side to begin the slow drive home.


	3. And the father is

**Dear guest who said that this ship is 'the most anti-Snowing piece of crap [you] have ever seen' I think you must have missed the point of Red Snowing being all three of them in love meaning that Snowing are still in love but they and Ruby are in love too, or perhaps you missed the point of the tagging system where it clearly states who the relationship is between – if you need any help understanding it feel free to message me off anon and I will happily explain it to you. If you are looking for something which is only Snowing (which is my ultimate ship, hence why my tumblr and twitter are full of Snowing, as is literally every fic I write), feel free to read any of my 12 other stories, the ones marked as being about Snowing. Or perhaps, and this is just me swinging in the wind here, you could just not review things negatively if it's something you don't like and have no interest in… but, hey, maybe that's just me. Also thank you for giving me my first piece of hate, I was genuinely proud of it, I'm thinking about printing it out and framing it.**

 **To everyone else who has reviewed, thank you very much! I'm glad you're all enjoying the story, feel free to send me any prompts (I have a couple which I'll be writing but I was struck with sudden inspiration for this one). If this makes you feel things feel free to blame my friend Justanoutlaw (who also writes amazing fics including Red Snowing) who gave me the idea at like at like 5am the other night.**

 **This chapter is quite angsty, and before that one troll who seems to target Charming family writers stories, this is not (nor am I) anti-David, if anything he's my favourite, as is Daddy Charming (I mean most my fics focus on them after all). Please also bare in mind that this isn't the Emma who was there in seasons 2 and 3 and 4a (4b doesn't exist), this isn't even 28 year old season 1 Emma – this is a 20 year old Emma who went to juvie only a short time before she went to Storybrooke (she's not the parent of Henry in this). Emma who's literally only just getting used to suddenly having parents, who watched the only person who had ever been like family to her be hurt by getting involved with some married guy. She's basically a kid who has had very, very, bad experiences with all father figures in her life, she has a strong connection to David in the same way she does Ruby and Snow, but it scares her and she finds it hard to trust him. This will obviously change, and David loves her more than anything, he doesn't want to force her to have a relationship with him if she's not ready to.**

 **Also the idea of Emma's parentage probably isn't going to be one carried on with in later chapters, it was mainly here as just a kick starter for the angst, I don't think you have to be related by blood to be family (my baby sister's adopted and she's more like my parents than any of the rest of us).**

 **I hope you like this, review and let me know what you think or send me a prompt:  
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Twitter: loboselinaff**

* * *

Emma was having a little trouble getting used to people no longer being cursed. After the first day of them all being curse free she had grown closer to Ruby, the way to her heart was clearly through her stomach so breakfast and a milkshake had worked wonders, plus she had largely gotten along with Ruby during the curse which had helped. Although Emma had been comfortable enough to not run away from David the first night, afterwards she had grown apart from him again, turning icier whenever she saw Ruby and Snow with him.

* * *

Emma led on the new bigger bed which barely fit in the downstairs room, it would have made more sense for them to have taken the upstairs room and Emma take the downstairs one, but they knew Emma needed her privacy. Snow sat on the bed folding the laundry as Emma 'helped' by simply lying in there, in her hands was a parcel.

"Are you going to tell me what you ordered," Snow said finally knowing full well what was in the parcel, "or do I have to guess?"

Emma sighed, fidgeting with the parcel, spinning it around. "It's from the hospital." She said simply.

Snow resisted sighing out loud, she already knew what was inside of it, and she understood in a way why. "You may as well open it, sweets, I already know what it is. You can ask."

Emma swallowed hard and tore open the packet. "They gave me enough for all four of us." She said weakly, she had only expected three but the hospital had clearly decided to amend it so Ruby was included. She could feel her heart beating hard in her chest and her palms were sweaty. She took shaky breaths, avoiding looking at Snow, as she restlessly tapped her feet against the bed.

"I'm sure Ruby would be happy to try it…" She placed her hand on Emma's cheek before brushing it through Emma's hair to gain her daughter's attention. "We understand Emma. You're not from this world but you've grown up here, finding out your paternity through a magic story book is hard, we completely understand you wanting to test it with science. You want to know if I'm biologically your mother-"

" 't's not you I'm worried about." Emma muttered under her breath.

"Emma." She sighed in frustration, she was trying to be fair and understanding, but she was caught between two people she shared true love with. "I had one night stands during the curse too. I wasn't a nun, I had sex," she watched Emma pull a face at that, "it's just you didn't know about it – you're a kid, I don't tell you everything."

"I'm not a kid." Emma whined. "And you never had enough… sex …that you had to buy a pregnancy test, did you?"

Of course, she had started to think about that. Abigale, as she was now going by, had recently announced that she and Fredrick were expecting, Snow, David, and Ruby had been thrilled for them – they hadn't had a chance to have a meal together in this world yet but they were still close friends. But for Emma it had brought to memory the sight of Katherine buying a pregnancy test and she and Mary Margaret bumping into her.

"They thought that they were married. He was just trying to make it work and follow vows he believed he made. _I_ was the other woman in that Emma, I wasn't exactly the most moral person, we were cursed, we've all talked about this it's been dealt with."

Emma just rolled her eyes changing track. "Well, he has record. He had affairs all over the place."

"Emma."

"It wasn't just with you! He was fine having an affair with mama!" Snow went to open her mouth but Emma carried on speaking. "And it wasn't like he knew who she was, he was trying to be with you, but he wasn't trying very hard."

"Emma. _He is your father_." She stressed. She had carried Emma after all, if any were to have had the affair and changed Emma's parentage, it would have been her. She wished she could see how alike she and David were. She wished that her daughter wasn't so desperately trying to change her father, when the father loved her so much, he'd do anything for her, but if she knew that Snow was scared Emma would ask him to go.

The room fell silent.

"I'll get them to do it." Snow sighed. She saw the mixture of sadness and fear in her daughter's eyes. "How long until you get the results?"

"Only three days." Emma mumbled. She wasn't ready to admit it but she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the results. But she just couldn't trust David even if she wasn't working on actively hating him, she just tried to avoid him which was hard as he seemed to try to be wherever she was. She truly wasn't sure if she wanted him as her father, she was worried he was, but scared that he wasn't.

* * *

Four days later the four of them were sat in the doctor's office waiting for the doctor to come in and tell them the results. They already knew the answer of course, but there was a unsettling fear in their stomachs. Well, all bar Ruby's who was trying to keep everyone's spirits up.

"I don't know, pup," Ruby's eyes twinkled, "I have green eyes too… plus you whine like a little puppy, maybe you do have some of my gene."

"Do not whine." Emma glared playfully, trying to act as cool as Ruby was but her leg was bouncing so much it was shaking the chairs around it and her voice came out as a whine.

"You been experiencing the need to chase after a stick, kiddo?"

"That was _one_ time, Princey."

Emma just stared at her leg, placing her hand on it to try and force it to still, she was too anxious to let the laugh at David's joke out. She had found it a little funny, but couldn't show it due to nerves, which just made her seem as though she was ignoring him.

Ruby slipped her hand into David's, interlocking their fingers together, she looked up at him sympathetically and he smiled quickly back down at her but she could tell that he was smiling for her benefit not genuinely. She leant against him and tilted her head back against his shoulder so that he could peck her on the lips, which he obliged. She looked over at Snow above Emma's head, sharing a look of pain for their husband, and of both being stuck in the middle of two people they shared true love with. They had both, on several separate occasions together and separately, offered to talk to Emma about it all and how he was feeling about it. He had refused point blank, and made them promise not to interfere, he had decided long ago that he wasn't going to be a pushy or interfering parent – so they were all stuck with waiting for Emma to realise what was going on, that might have worked a little better if the two would stay in a room together for more than three minutes.

Ruby's head snapped towards the door a couple of seconds before it opened and the doctor Emma had been in touch with walked through the door, Whale sauntered in behind, Snow was the only one out of the four who didn't glare at the smirking doctor.

"What the hell-" Emma cut off her growl as Snow squeezed her hand to quieten her.

"Is everything okay Doctor Whale?" Snow asked very much to the point.

Whale exchanged his smirk for his more professional face. "Sorry for the wait, it's just there was a small… abnormality… in the DNA results."

"What do you mean abnormality?" Ruby demanded, she had been in wolf mode her ears would have been pressed down in high alert mode.

Whale held up one of his hands in a calming gesture. "It's nothing to worry about."

"I just asked Doctor Whale's help to make sure that I hadn't misread it." She was mainly looking at Emma before she looked at the rest of them. "The results of the DNA test told us that Snow and David are the biological mother and father of Emma Swan."

Snow squeezed Emma's hand, when Emma looked at her she sent her a smile, it was a loving 'told you so' smile. Snow hoped that now they could start to move forward, but Emma seemed to be trying to largely avoid her look, other than a quick smile. Snow frowned looking back at the doctor. "Then what's wrong?" She glanced over at her spouses and saw they were just as worried as she was.

"It's nothing _wrong_ ," the doctor promised, "it's…. well. You are Emma's mother..." She said looking at Snow. "…But so are you." She turned her head to look at Ruby. "But, so are you."

"What?!" All four of the Charmings demanded.

"That's not possible." Emma frowned trying to remember her school science, but it wasn't like she was ever really in school, through her own fault or other's. "…Right?"

"Is it dangerous?" David asked. He felt his blood running cold, he watched Emma, examining her as though trying to see the effects.

"Which parts of the DNA?" Ruby worried. Surely if Emma had inherited the wolf gene she would have shown signs, maybe there was a low enough percentage that she had managed to avoid it, she too started at Emma trying to get her mind around it.  
She looked at her green eyes, she could see now that the eyes seemed to be a combination of the green of Snow's and her own, along with flecks of blue which were in neither of theirs so must be David's doing. She could see Emma had her nose and her brow furrowed in the same way as hers did especially when they were confused or worried. Emma was always hers, family wasn't connected out of DNA strands it was about love, but she'd be lying if she claimed never to have been envious that David and Snow could pick out their own features in their daughter and know it wasn't just a coincidence.

"Whale?" Snow prompted.

"It's rare, but it is heard of, in an IVF infertility treatment called cytoplasmic transfer, it's banned now cause of ethical and safety concerns it was quite an interesting treatment…" His scientific enthusiasm had returned with the breaking of the curse, but he saw the hard looks David, Ruby, and Snow were sending him and the confused, kind of worried, look Emma was looking at him with. "… but this is clearly not the time… I've never heard of it happening… but I suppose with True Love, anything's possible…It doesn't seem to be related to any pre-existing medical conditions you have."

Emma felt all three of her parents' eyes boring into her, but she ignored them, she wasn't about to have that conversation anytime in the immediate future. She just stared ahead at Whale waiting for him to go on and answer the rest of the questions, her mind was racing both with the revelation of Ruby being her biological mother, and that Snow was right about David.

"You haven't passed on any of genes which would make her a werewolf." Whale promised.

The first day after the curse broke Ruby had disappeared for a few hours, she wanted to make sure that there wasn't going to be some consequences to the form of magic now in the town. She didn't want to hurt anyone, especially her family, but at least she knew that her husband and wife could defend themselves (not that wolf her would hurt them even out of control) but she didn't want to even chance it. Luckily when Whale ran the tests the werewolf gene was so obvious he saw it as soon as she DNA came through, he had been working the doctor on the Charming's test results so had pointed it out in Ruby's and automatically checked that it wasn't there in Emma's.

"So, erm, it's mostly what we were expecting… except obviously…" The doctor trailed off she wasn't sure what she should say in this situation, she looked at Whale who looked deeply amused by this.

"Congratulations... it's a girl?" Whale offered Ruby. He was relieved to see Emma now smiling at Emma, the last thing he needed was the hospital to turn into one of those daytime TV shows where families have screaming wars, he had more important things of his own to work through.

* * *

Over the next couple of days, the family continued to get used to being a family, Snow wasn't back on yet so Snow was at home, as was Ruby most of the time, David had been asked to take over to role of sheriff after the last one retired, so he was there most of the time. The revelation hadn't really changed anything between them, it just meant Ruby, Snow, and David would point out to each other and her the different part of her which were like her mama, Emma would pretend to roll her eyes and be it was nice.  
Snow and Ruby had also taken to doing the same about her and David though, that was where Emma drew the line, she didn't even pretend to not mind that. She had known David through the curse, through his and Mary Margaret's actions, and yes, her mother's actions were wrong, but at least she hadn't been the one to cheat, and lead him on, before going back to her wife – he had.

Slowly but surely David started to become quiet around her, his glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking were annoying her to no end, soon she acted as though he wasn't there when they were in a room together he quickly cottoned on to the fact she didn't want to talk to him, they only passed a few words, usually for the sake of Ruby and Snow.

Snow and Ruby weren't oblivious to this, they were just helpless. Snow had talked to David and asked him if he wanted her to talk to Emma, to find out what was bothering her, to talk to sense into her. And Ruby had offered to turn into a wolf and sit on Emma to force her to talk to him. He continued to turn them down, it had to be Emma's choice, or it meant nothing. He continued to try and hide his hurt from his wives, which was nearly impossible, he acted overjoyed for Ruby that part wasn't a lie, he was overjoyed for her, it's just he had Emma on his mind all the time. The whole thing was bittersweet and he had no idea what to do to fix it.

* * *

Naturally, the news of Emma's parentage spread across the town, there were of course people who didn't like or approve of it but they were the people who had never approved of the trio's relationship, and they didn't matter. For the most part it was celebrated, the royals were well loved and when it was announced that Snow was pregnant while they were in the Enchanted Forest it was greatly celebrated, sadly they had never gotten to hold an event to celebrate her birth – so instead they decided upon a party. The loft was to be filled with food, alcohol, music, and their closest friends.

Emma would be lying if she claimed not to be impressed with her mothers' alcohol tolerance, particularly Snow's, who managed to out drink all the dwarves, even Leroy. Emma stuck mostly to Ruby's and/or Snow's side as the party went on, she was enjoying herself despite being a little uncomfortable in general in the large gathering, and everyone seemed to know her and her parents – for a girl who was practically invisible for twenty years it was a little bizarre. So she stayed by her mothers' sides, but she also caught herself looking for David in the crowds, she wasn't sure why she was making sure he was there, that alone scared her. He seemed to be just as uncomfortable as she was, she knew a fake smile when she saw one and he barely joined in with anything, he seemed to be the only other one, besides her, who wasn't drinking. He only perked up when Snow appeared at his side: joking, flirting, and kissing though Emma looked away at that one, instead focusing on talking to her mama whom she hadn't seen him spend time with at all that night.

Soon, Ruby and Snow were a little more than tipsy, but they were pleasant and kind, and still were caring about Emma (largely making sure she wasn't drinking anything alcoholic). She found herself looking for David again, she watched him snatch up his keys, and leave the loft. Leave them.

Anger lit inside Emma like a furnace, she left her mothers' sides and followed him down to the car park, she didn't even stop to put on shoes or a jacket.

"Hey! David!"

David heard the voice and span around. "Em, what are you doing out here?... It's late you should probably go back inside." But she didn't budge.

"You can't even _pretend_ to be happy for her?" Emma interrupted with a glare. She hadn't liked him before, even when he was the guy Mary Margaret was having an affair with, now she hated to even think she shared a single gene with him.

"I _am_ happy for her." David insisted and he wasn't lying at all. "She was always your mama but I'm happy that there's this connection too."

"If you're so happy then why were you avoiding her?" She challenged, the venom was still in her voice, and her eyes were narrowed at him.

"I'm not!" He shouted, they could both hear the distant music from the loft despite the distance, he let out a deep and desperate sigh when his frustration got the better of him. When he looked at her his eyes were lost. "…. I'm avoiding you." He finished calmly but there was an edge of shame in his voice.

Emma gave a mirthless laugh, she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, before looking back at him. "Why am I not surprised? You were a deadbeat when you were supposedly cursed, and you're one now, I always guessed my ' _father'_ was but I guess even that whole ' _Prince Charming_ ' thing doesn't change that."

"Have you ever considered that I'm heartbroken?" He countered.

"Over _Katherine_? What you can't live without the 'excitement' of cheating, so now you're going to try and start something with her again?" Emma scoffed dismissively. She had never _truly_ hated David but she was starting to now. She felt sick.

"I'm heartbroken over _you_." He received a lost look in return and he was no longer careful to hide the hurt on his face. "You were so desperate for me to be nothing to do with you that you tried to prove it with a paternity test. A paternity test which would have only have shown that my wife cheated on me and our wife – but that _my_ baby, who I fell in love with from the moment we all decided we wanted to have children together, who I talked and sang to when she was in her mommy's stomach, who I held as soon as she was born, that I am beyond proud of and in love with, was some random man's. Would rather hope to tear my marriage apart than that?"

"…That's not-…. I would never want to hurt mama-" She tried to fumble for some fake excuse but they all sounded so much stronger in her head that as soon as they materialised the evaporated unspoken into the cold air.

"What if I hadn't turned out to be your biological father? What if you were only Ruby and Snow's? Or just Snow's?" He questioned rapidly. "Would you have asked them to break up with me? Or told them that you want absolutely nothing to do with me?"

Emma wasn't sure she wanted to know her answer to those questions. She didn't think she would have, but she couldn't say that for certain, for reasons she couldn't quite grasp her mothers loved him. "Well, what would you have done?" She countered. "Would you have run off or something? Like you're trying to do now. I guess I did get something from you."

David heaved a deep sigh, he had been alive for fifty-five years in total, and he felt them all crashing down upon him now. When he spoke, his voice was breaking, his eyes full of pain, but he was truthful. "If you wanted me to… If you _genuinely, whole heartedly_ , wanted me to… I'd leave the loft. _I won't leave your mommy and mama_ , and I'm _never abandoning you_ , no matter what you say. But if you can't stand to be in your home just in because I'm there… then I'll move out, temporarily. I'll stay at the inn until you're comfortable." She wasn't looking at him but he continued. "It'll hurt to be apart from you all again, but I share true love with all three of you, and I learnt from my mother that you always put your kid first. I'd do anything for you, kiddo, we all would, even if it meant being apart."

Emma was silent as she scuffed her socked feet against the car park tarmac, it hurt a little and she wished she had brought her shoes, but it also stopped herself from running away.

David sighed though he tried to make sure Emma didn't hear it. She still didn't speak even after a couple of minutes of silence between them, where the only noise was people in the loft passionately singing along to 'Come on Eileen', Ruby and Snow's voices more prominent than the rest.  
"I should get to the station." He cleared his throat. "You should get back inside, it's cold out, and late." She didn't respond, even as he headed for the squad car, as he started to drive out of the parking space she headed back for the apartment.

* * *

Ruby and Snow were sat at the kitchen island when Emma came down the stairs, four nights after she had last spoken to David, or even looked at him on purpose. In fact she had barely even seen him, now she came to think of it, she would every so often hear the low rumble of his voice from a different room, or catch the smell of his aftershave. They were alone, and had stopped talking as soon as she had entered the room, she normally would have kicked up a fuss but she didn't think she wanted to know the answer.

"David's at work." Snow told her though Emma hadn't asked.

"Shame." She murmured sarcastically.

"He almost died."

Emma looked up at Ruby alarmed. "What?" How the hell had she slept through that?

"He almost _died_." Ruby repeated shortly, the mood around the loft was not fun for anyone, but she could sense the emotions coming off of people, which made it much worse for her. "When you were born. He raced to save you, fighting off multiple knights one handed all the while making sure not to jostle you and keeping you _safe._ He got stabbed a few times, he has the _scars_ , he got you into the wardrobe then collapsed. He was seconds away from death when the curse came. It saved him, just, put him in a coma and gave him twenty years to recover. He has scars which bring tears to my and your mommy's eyes, but he says they're worth it, because _you're_ still here."

"What d'you expect me to do with this information?" Emma asked after a pause. She would rather she just told her what to do then make her come to the decision herself. She reached for a mug of coffee and Snow pulled it away from her, passing her hot chocolate, before claiming the mug for her own.

Ruby sighed in frustration. "Whatever the hell you want, pup, whatever _you_ want." Trust her to have inherited all three of their stubbornness, though Ruby blamed Snow most of all, she was clearly more stubborn than she and David.

Emma stared down at her drink for a second, it was too much to think about right then, she needed to clear her head. "Right…whatever, I'm gonna get changed, I'm going out."

* * *

Emma had spent the day just walking around Storybrooke, avoid people, particularly her parents. She just spent the time thinking. She felt terrible, she just could place why, she just wanted a do over. She got back to the loft at night time and headed straight up to her room, ignoring her moms' voices and their concerned looks. She quickly changed into her pyjamas and climbed into her bed. She led there for several hours waiting for sleep to take her, but it would not come, instead her head was swarming with thoughts. She climbed out of the bed and her room, onto the fire escape and onto the roof.

She had gone there when Katherine had disappeared and Mary Margaret was suspected of killing her. She was terrified. She would just go sit up there and feel both helpless and hopeless. She walked out of habit to where she usually sat, not really paying attention to her surroundings, it was only when she was already next to him that she realised David was already up there, the story book full of the fairy tales was in front of him.

What was more unusual was that the empty feeling of dread which had been in her had changed. To _relief?_

When he looked up at her she saw he looked worn down, exhausted, and old. She hated that. But she hated that _she_ was the cause even more. He opened his mouth as though to talk but it was clear he didn't know what to say, she just shook her head to ask him to let her speak first, he closed his mouth looking at her wearily.

"The last few days have sucked." She admitted in a small voice. His face turned concerned as though he was about to jump up and protect her from anything which would bother her. "I've been trying to figure out why… and I realised that… well, you've barely been here. I haven't seen or spoke to you, and everything's sucked. But I… I don't know how to do this."

"I'm not sure either." He admitted. "But I want to try."

"It's hard for me, this whole… _trusting_ you, thing."

David nodded understandingly, but he was elated that she was even talking to him, let alone nicely. "I understand, you knew me as David Nolan, I'm not a huge fan of him either. He hurt, _I hurt_ , Snow. I would have hated and mistrusted me too."

"I didn't-" She sighed "I didn't hate you, not really, I mean you screwed up big time but it was like there was some spell to stop me from hating you. And when you and Mary Margaret were together, she was happy, I mean annoying and sickeningly so, singing along to every cheesy pop song." She rolled her eyes at the memory and a small smile appeared when he chuckled. "It's not because it's _you_ , it's just…." She sighed again trailing off as she internally debated whether to admit certain things about her past to him. She dropped to the floor to sit beside him.

"I grew up in care, I had a home with a family until I was three years old, then she got pregnant… I had a few health issues, I was like developmentally delayed and shit… they decided that they couldn't cope with me as well as a new baby… after that I was sent from foster home to foster home, none of them good, the best ones were group homes and even they usually sucked… most of the time I was… well, the foster dads were a little heavy handed- turns out they believe an adult over a fourteen year old who looks about ten when she says he hit her but he claims she's clumsy and fell down the stairs." She swallowed hard. "Some just decided I wasn't a 'good fit', and that was best case scenario… they all… I got hurt by a lot of people who were meant to be father figures…Then I got together with people who were, well, most of the guys were assholes. The last one screwed me over big time, left me holding stolen watches, the judge sent me to juvie, he went to Canada. Every guy who has ever been in my life, foster dads, social workers, boyfriends, hell even August, has screwed me over or abandoned me. I can't have you do that too. It'd be too much. You're…" She looked down sniffling, "…You're actually my daddy… I don't want you to leave too… it was easier to not know who my dad is, that to know, get close to you, and you leave…"

David tilted her head up to look at them, they were both a mess of blonde hair and tears, but neither cared.  
"I'm so sorry you went through all of them Emma. If I had known I would have found another way, any way, you were meant to grow up with us – if you couldn't have that we wanted you to grow up at least cared for and protected." He ignored the tears rolling down his own cheeks but gently wiped the ones on hers away. He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her when he saw her shivering slightly. "I'm never abandoning you. Ever. My own father… he would often abandon me and my mother for days at a time to go out drinking, even when he was there, he wasn't really. He died when I was young, and I swore that when I had children I would never do the same to them, that I'd never abandon them."

"I'll try." She nodded. "It's not going to be easy, and I'll probably mess up, big time, and a lot – I'll get worried, or distant, or read the situation wrong. But I'll _try._ Just… don't give up on me?"

"How could I give up on you? You're perfect. You're my daughter." He smiled down at her lovingly. "I love you more than anything in any realm."

Emma gave him a small smile but wasn't yet ready to say anything of the sort back. She took a leap of faith and slowly leant against him. She relaxed when he wrapped his arm around her.

David noticed how tired she looked and felt very protective all of a sudden. "It's late, why don't we both get some rest?"

Emma shook her head. "…. Mama said you got hurt saving me…. What were you reading?"

David smirked in the darkness, taking the hint he picked up the story book and flipped to his, Snow, and Ruby's story. "Once upon a time…"

* * *

When Emma woke up she was in her bed, she tried to sit up but it was a little bit of a struggle, when she sat up she realised it was because she had fallen asleep on the roof with David as he read her their story, correcting the bits he claimed were wrong, and jokingly embellishing his actions (not that they really needed a. He must have carried her down and tucked her into the bed.

Maybe trying to get to know him wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.

She smelt cooked breakfast, pancakes, and smiled – Ruby must be cooking breakfast. She quickly dressed and raced down the stairs.

Ruby and Snow were both sat at the table, they smiled over at her as she descended the stairs, David headed over with a plate of pancakes. He gave her a slightly nervous and hopeful smile, she responded with a small smile of her own.

Snow and Ruby noticed the practically identical smiles pass between the pair, they smiled at each other, David had already filled them in on his and Emma's talk the night before (saying simply that she had told him briefly about her past) and had tried to play down how hopeful he was that Emma would still feel the same after sleeping.

They ate breakfast quietly, Emma wasn't a morning person but she still chimed in comments to things all three of her parents said, she happily ate the double chocolate pancakes David had made especially for her. Once they were finished Ruby, Snow, and David moved in tandem to collect the dishes and dirty cutlery, before Emma even had a chance to move.

She watched them for a few minutes. She became aware of how utterly in love the three were – David was stood behind Snow, his arms snaked around her waist and his head ducked to rest on her shoulder smirking at Ruby, as Snow attempted to wash up Ruby was trying to flick bubbles from the sink at David. Snow eventually shooed them away, trying to be stern but the smile on her face spoke greater volumes, Emma laughed quietly as she watched them. David looked over at her with his charming smile and twinkling blue eyes.

For the second time in less than twelve hours Emma took a leap of faith. "Hey dad- _dadvid_ ," dammit she thought, " _David_?"

David looked amused and Ruby had put her hand over her mouth to pretend that she wasn't laughing, having sensed Emma's frustration over her Freudian slip, but she was laughing loudly which made the hand over the mouth pointless.

"Yes kiddo?" He said brightly, he playfully pushed Ruby back towards the kitchen so Emma wouldn't get overly embarrassed.

"Do you… do you maybe wanna come with me to the arcade?" She asked before she started to babble nervously, "Or we could do something else? Unless you don't want to. Or you're working, or something."

"That's so Snow." Ruby mumbled and gained water being flicked at her by her wife, Ruby grinned waking back over to Snow, she wrapped one arm around her waist, the other she dipped into the water and flicked water back at her.

David's eyes didn't leave Emma, despite the commotion behind him. "I'd love to go to the arcade with you." He beamed at her as she looked made up for half a second, before she dampened it and tried to play it cool, but he knew the truth. "Luckily, I'm not quite as competitive as your mommy, so I won't purposely try at win at _any costs_."

Emma smirked. "Oh, trust me, I know. I played air hockey against her before you all became, well, you guys."

David grimaced as Snow shouted a protest. "I'm sorry kid, no one should have to go through that."  
He glanced at Snow who was sending him a mock glare, but he knew his wife too well, he knew she was relieved that he and Emma were starting to become close. Ruby was giving him a similar look, with Snow pulled against her side.  
"I think you need that to be made up to you, how about once we've finished we go grab a chocolate milk, I'm sure if you tell Granny your tale of woe she'll make yours extra chocolatey."

Emma beamed outright then. "And grilled cheese?"

"Of course, with onion rings, it's the best way to have them." David threw his arm around her shoulders and led her over towards the door.

"Wear a jacket!" Snow called as David grabbed his and Emma's jackets, and the two left the apartment, shouting their goodbyes.

"Everything's going to be all okay and peaceful now." Snow mused contently, she pulled Ruby down slightly to kiss her.

Ruby laughed against lips. "Oh, Snow White, when has our life been peaceful?" she felt Snow smile against her lips as she deepened the kiss…. It was probably a good thing David would be keep Emma occupied for the next few hours….


	4. Bad Idea

**Thanks everyone for the encouraging reviews, I would have updated sooner but I just didn't have my muse, but the reviews have been so nice to read!**

 **To the troll who seems to spending their time making negative reviews on all Red Snowing fics, I think you need to learn to read tags - this states it's a Red Snowing Fic, I'm obviously a huge Snowing fan as most of my other fics are about them, and David is my favourite male character... I think someone who leave hurtful comments on properly tagged fics is intact the real fake-Snowing fan, and if you think that a loving a stable relationship between Ruby, Snow, and David would be destroyed because Snow and Ruby happen to have sex without David every so often (or David/Ruby, David/Snow) I worry about what you think Snowing is actually about, as you seem to put it purely down to their sex lives... Yikes... So if you don't like the fic just don't read it, let alone review it, it's just a waste of both of our times...**

 **Justanoutlaw sent me the prompt of '"I told you this would be a bad idea." for Red Snowing'  
If you haven't already read her Red Snowing fics please do, they're beyond amazing.**

* * *

"I told you this would be a bad idea."

Ruby rolled her eyes at Snow's reminder to them, but she didn't justify the statement with a response, she just carried on tugging at the enchanted rope tying them all back to back and stopping her from wolfing out.

David also rolled his eyes but he didn't have enough restraint to stay silent. "You still agreed to it, anyway you told _Emma_ it would be a bad idea – hence why Granny's watching her and we are during the stupid and dangerous thing."

" _Were_." Snow corrected. "Currently we're sitting here, without my bow, your sword, and you can't change into a wolf."

Ruby and David shared a look which was drawn to a conclusion with an eye roll from both of them.

"I hope Emma's okay." Snow said quietly. It became obvious, to her spouses, that her sarcastic comments to them had been a manifestation of her worry.

David and Ruby couldn't touch their wife, but they both shifted as much as they could to press themselves against their wife, to give her some physical comfort.

"I know what you mean." David agreed. "This would be so much less stressful if she hadn't inherited all three of our knack for finding herself in the middle of the trouble, then we could just focus on getting out of here."

Ruby nodded her head. "Maybe she'll be too scared of Granny holding her crossbow to do anything…"

"I think that might just be a you fear…." David joked, though he knew how scary the older woman was holding the weapon, he figured it even scared Regina a bit (though getting her to admit that would be impossible).

"She'll be fine with Granny," Ruby insisted she was trying to ignore her growing frustration at feeling helpless to help her spouses and then go and protect their daughter.

There was a big bang and their heads snapped to look up at the stairs up from the basement. Snow was having to fully crane her head as she was at the back of the three tied together.

Slowly the Grand High Witch descended the stairs. There had been some pluses to Roald Dahl characters appearing in Storybrooke, like the clear improvements in the amount and quality of candy in the town, but sadly it also brought about a slew of new villains – including a harem of Witches who were intent on turning the towns children into mice, according to the witches this included twenty year old Emma, Regina, Snow, Ruby, and David all joked that it was because Emma acted like a child, which had made her pout, not exactly disproving their point. But it had also terrified them that there was a powerful group of witches targeting children.

Emma had wanted to go in all guns blazing, to storm the abandoned hotel where they were and just hit them with any magic she could muster, and as she had so eloquently put it "and wing it and stuff". They had told her no, outrightly banned her from heading to the hotel no matter what, and kept her by their sides while secretly planning on sneaking in to gather intel on the witches. They left Emma under Granny's care and reminded her to stay _with_ Granny and told her that if she got within a hundred yards of the hotel she'd be grounded to always be at one of their sides for the next ten years.

They had found out a way to defeat the witches, by using their own potion they had been making to turn the children…. But they had also been caught sneaking in, and now they were sat tied back to back in the hotel basement.

"You know I could just release you now, all you have to do is give over your child, it's not a big deal, and mice really are much less hassle."

"You can go fuck yourself if you think that's ever going to happen." Ruby told her.

"What she said." Snow agreed through her gritted teeth.

"Yeah, over our dead bodies, you're not laying a finger on our kid." David snarled.

The High Witch considered their words for a moment in a cold and calculated way. "Well, I'm not stupid, I know that you're a werewolf, and you're the stepdaughter of that powerful witch who I'd have to be a fool to cross…" She snapped her finger and David was suddenly untied and pinned to a wall… "But you're a no one, no one to miss you..."

"Hey!"

"Leave him alone!"

Ruby and Snow both shouted.

The witch laughed, and spoke as though she was talking about the weather, or was trying to convince them to take out life insurance or something. "Then just give the mouse up, it's not like you can't just make more of those disgusting creatures, preferably when we're away from here so we don't have to see it, you could even have two at once."

They could hardly believe what they were hearing, partially because they were disgusted that they ever thought any of them would give up their baby, and partially in shock that their relationship was being given more acceptance by a witch who wanted to turn children into mice then kill them, than some of the people who they had known for years – despite the eye rolls they gave back and told repeatedly that they were all equally in love with each other, and no Snow wasn't just in love with Ruby and using David to give her kids, and that they were never going to talk about their sex life with strangers.

"She's our baby, we were separated for her for twenty years, so if you honestly think that we're going to be forced to be separated for more than a couple of hours from her, you have another thing coming." David may have been pressed against the wall, and feeling as though a weight was pressed against his chest pinning him to the wall, but he wasn't planning on losing any of the protectiveness no matter what compromising position he was in.

Before the witch could say anything there was a loud noise vibrating through the hotel. There was another similar noise in just a different note. It was completely unfamiliar to the Witch… but Ruby, David, and Snow knew exactly what that was, the first few notes of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.

"Shit." Snow whispered as the music properly kicked in. There was only one person in the town Snow knew of who would copy Iron Man's entrance in the first Avengers movie, albeit with a different song choice.

The High Witch clicked her fingers and her arm broke, he screamed in pain, then she clicked her fingers again and David was tied up where he had been before. Then she ascended the stairs again towards "

"David, babe, are you okay?!" Snow asked with sheer worry.

"We need to get out of here." David ignored the question.

"I think I have it…" Ruby said, she pulled at the rope fiercely, after a couple of tries they came free.

They all pulled the ropes off of them and stood up.

"David you need to stay here." Ruby told him firmly.

"Not a chance." David shook his head. "We need to find our weapons and then find Emma."

"David, your arm is clearly broken, you need to stay here."

"Snow, Em is-"

"Here." A new voice interrupted. Emma appeared grinning the smile she inherited from David.

"Emma!" Her name rang out of all of their mouths at the same time, they pulled her into their arms, David didn't even care about the pain in his arm as he cupped her head.

Emma melted into their arms as they held tightly onto her, she had been terrified when they had been gone over two hours, they had said they would be back by then, and they were never late. She had worried it would have been too late, she was more than happy having three parents who loved her and each other, but she wasn't sure how she would feel about having mice for parents. Suddenly she was pulled back with their hands still holding onto her, just close enough to see their faces… she wish she couldn't… they did not look happy…

"Emma Ruth! This was a terrible plan, we told you not to come." Snow chastised.

"But-"

"We weren't joking about you being grounded to us." David told her sternly.

"But you were cau-"

"How did you even get down here so fast? We heard your music."

"It's a drone." She shrugged. "It's not a big deal, it's not like anything was going to happen to me, you three were almost turned into mice though!"

"No excuses, Emma, you could have been hurt- you still could be!" Ruby added. "We would have found a way to get out of this."

"But you did this! You all disappeared on me, you got caught, anything could have happened to you… I could have lost you…" She pointed out, the whine showed her worry, and the pout the unfairness at the situation.

David, Ruby, and Snow shared a look, they knew that they were being a little hypocritical, and they didn't like lying to their daughter even if it was for her own good.

"I may have left Regina a vague message suggesting to get here." Emma said sheepishly, as if on queue there was a huge bang as Regina and the rest of the backup arrived. "I'm gonna go help her." She tried to move but her parent kept a tight hold of her.

"We weren't joking about the grounding, kiddo." David told her gently. "Now, you stay put, did you see any sign of our weapons?"

"Yeah, they're back there." she pointed over at the corner of the basement where she had appeared from. "Why don't I get to-"

"Because you're our pup." Ruby pressed a kiss to the top of her head then turned into the wolf version of herself.

"I'm going to help too." He told Snow, giving her a look, he knew she wasn't happy with him taking on the witches while injured but she understood.

"David if you come back with any more injures, so help me god, you'll be sleeping on the couch until Emma's done being grounded."

"You could just not ground me-"

"Understood dear."

"-Or we could just ignore Emma…" Emma sulked.

"Emma, baby, just do what your mommy says. Me, mommy, and mama will all talk to you about this at home." He told her gently, but he shot her a look telling her that there was going to be a conversation later.

"After we go to the hospital." Snow told him seriously, she might not be able to get him to not fight, but she could make sure he got it treated as soon as possible. "Emma, I need you to hide down here, behind those boxes just incase anyone comes down. David, can you pass me my bow."

* * *

Soon enough the fighting was over, David and Ruby had joined Regina and the others, Snow had stuck some arrows into a couple of witches and luckily Emma had listened to her parents for once and stayed put.

Regina looked at Snow with a raised eyebrow. "This was an incredibly stupid idea Snow." She chastised.

Emma ducked her head and sniggered, perhaps it was a parent thing, as her mom looked exactly like she had when her parents had told her off.

"Wow, who'd have thought Snow would be pouting like a baby?" Ruby smirked before looking back at David's arm, to her it felt like a clean break which would be easily and fairly quickly fixed at the hospital.

David wrapped his uninjured arm around Emma's shoulders and rested his head on her head. "You're right, she looks exactly like our baby." He smirked as Emma turned to face him with another pout identically to Snow's then knocked her head against his chest as though trying to headbutt him, but she led her head against him. David smirked ate her huffy cuddle.

"You both suck." She pouted against his chest.

David chuckled and shared a smile with his wife. "Uh huh, well, you get to spend the next ten years with me and mama, or mommy, _all the time_."

Snow walked back over to her two spouses, rolling her eyes at her stepmother's stern words at her 'risky and immature behaviour'. Her face turned worried as she looked at David's bruised and swollen arm. "How is it?" She asked Ruby, her voice not masking any of the worry, she ran her hand through Emma's hair distractedly.

"He'll need a cast but he'll be okay." Ruby assured her. "So long as he listens to his two amazing wives, and takes it easy, and doesn't over do it." She shot David a look as he rolled his eyes, a serious one, which was very different than how she normally acted.

"Yes ma'am." David said with another playful roll of his eyes. He pulled Snow into a kiss. "I'm fine Snow, I promise."

"Good, because I love you, and if anything happened to you I'd kill you." She told him seriously.

David was touched at how worried his wives were for him, it was a testimony to how much they loved each other, they always would and they became especially protective in times of worry. He looked down at Emma who was looking up at him was the worry of Snow and Ruby put together. He pulled her closer to his chest. "Don't worry baby, I'm fine, it's just a poorly arm. Hey, look at it this way, I'll be off work until this is fixed, that means you can get me to watch all those tv shows and all the movies we've been meaning to watch."

Emma still felt worried, though she knew that she was being silly, she was happy to be held safe in her father's arms. "Disney marathon?"

"Sure, just no Snow White, or Hoodwinked, or we'll have your mommy and mama ranting about them for days."

"It's completely inaccurate! Granny's never gone skiiing!"

"Name the last time you saw me dancing and singing with woodland creatures… well, when I wasn't drunk on Granny's homemade sangria…"

* * *

 **Prompts are always accepted here, through my Tumblr (loboselinaistrash) , or twitter loboselinaff !**


	5. Important Announcement

**As of _9th of January 2018 I will exclusively be posting fics on AO3, not on FF.  
_** I'm trying to give everyone enough time to sign up for an account on this site, that being said you can still read and leave comments as a guest. I've been hoping not to have to make this announcement but despite my strong message to them last time they reviewed they have done it again.

Like other Charming Family writers a certain troll has been sending hate to me on every fic I write, and while it's easy to try and ignore them this has been going on for several months and they ignore every thing I try to say to them about it, and as they comment through guest it is impossible to block them, AO3 has ways to prevent this. I wish I didn't have to do this but they're really ruining my enjoyment of writing, I've even put off updating many fics because of this one person.

I will be posting no new fics to FF however I will post the end chapters to any fics I have up on this site when the fics are completed. This includes:

 **Snowing (/Charming family) Fics:**

 ** _+12 Days of Charming Family Christmas_**

 ** _+Cherry Wine_**

 ** _+In any Universe_**

 ** _+Kiddo_**

 ** _+The Kids aren't alright_**

 **Red Snowing (/Charming Family)**

 ** _+A Different Kind of Family_**

 ** _+First comes love, then comes marriage, third comes a baby_**

 ** _+Three's not a crowd_**

Dependant on how I feel later in time I might return to , however this is only if the troll ceases to act in this way, I will still respond to any personal messages sent through FF, and will continue to read, follow, and comment on other fics.

 ** _My AO3 account is_** ** _/users/LoboMarshall_** ** _if you want to follow me there. I am also reachable through Tumblr loboselinaistrash and loboselinafanfiction, as well as through Twitter loboselinaff_**


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